Thursday, November 15, 2012

Bringing the disabled into the community

I actually ventured out of the house on Tuesday
night - and headed not to the supermarket but to a conference organized by our
Human Rights Center for People with Disabilities.

Riding the wave of a recent abuse scandal in a
large private institution, the Center aimed to galvanize the public to action.
As I have mentioned before, institutions are still the norm here for thousands
of disabled citizens. In-community residences are almost non-existent.

The Center's spokesperson was impassioned and
well informed. She enumerated all the logical reasons for
de-institutionalization. Here are just a few:

Everyone,
including the disabled enjoys the inalienable right to live within the
community.

Nobody
needs to earn that right by winning neighborhood approval.

Citizens
opposed to the disabled in their midst don't need to be "convinced"
or "educated" first (that could take decades!) They will adjust to
people with disabilities after the creation of facts on the ground.

The cost
to taxpayers for care of people with disabilities in small residences will be
the same as it is in large, isolated institutions. The higher expense for the
care of some will be offset by the lowered outlay of others. Overall, there
will be a financial status quo.

People
with disabilities will still be inherently vulnerable to abuse in small
residences. But potential abusers will be deterred by the presence and scrutiny
of neighbors and passers.

Large,
hermetically-sealed institutions on the other hand are isolated from critical
eyes. They are fantastic enablers of sadism.

Infrequent
spot checks by government supervisors hardly make a dent in institutional
abuse.

I am only mildly optimistic. This dedicated
center has been campaigning, writing and speaking out against
institutionalization of the disabled for over a decade. In that time, few small
residences have been established, while a new and gargantuan institution has
erupted in the midst of our desert.

No comments:

About my blog

C. is the youngest of our children. She suffers from severe epilepsy, blindness, microcephaly and profound cognitive and physical impairment.

We have faced hurdles and gained insights through our encounters with the medical, educational and governmental establishments.

Nobody was there to help or guide us.

I would love to spare parents in the same predicament some of the painful mistakes and wasted efforts we have made.

I am also eager to promote greater acceptance, inclusion and appreciation of our children. The new, heightened awareness of people with disabilities tends to gloss over our children - the ones with profound disabilities. They are a forgotten minority within this minority. Still marginalized and even shunned by many "enlightened" societies, they are a long way off from achieving equal rights.